We have a room beside our kitchen that we've recently painted and are in the process of furnishing and decorating. I'm planning to drink tea there in the evenings, while either reading or spending some time on the computer (we're putting the computer there).

So far we have a computer desk in there...and that's it. We're planning to add a comfortable reading chair, or two, and I'm interested in adding some furniture that will make drinking tea, and reading, enjoyable. Items such as: an end table beside the reading chair with space for my tea cup and other items depending on the "session", a foot stool/automan, a light that is out of the way (i.e., not taking up space on the end table...that's where the tea is!) yet useful for reading, etc.

I thought it would be interesting to hear, and see if you can share photos, on if you have a space where you usually drink tea, and maybe read. I would love ideas on those items we've yet to purchase and what I should consider (e.g., type of end table, lighting, ipod stereo, etc.).

I don't have a dedicated space for tea myself, other than a tray beside the kettle in the kitchen, with a cupboard above filled with my tea things. I drink my tea in the kitchen, or in the living room/lounge on the sofa, or in my reading chair, or...well, I realized my whole apartment is set up for giving me the atmosphere I like.

MEversbergII wrote:I've only really recently moved into a place I "control", and had planned on turning a bedroom into a tea room.

It's a cat room now.

Maybe after I finish the buy, I'll put some effort into setting up something.

M.

Haha, cats are so like that. They claim their territory and bugger any other plans you have for that space.

I'm hoping to do something similar when I get my own place. I want a small den to double as an art & photo studio / tea room, free of electronics. no tv, no computer, just books, tea, and art (cameras would get a pass). It's a small dream of mine.

After my wife and I had been dating for two years her extended family in Taiwan won the American Green Card lottery and we bought a house with four bedrooms to house her parents and three siblings. Once we'd gotten the family, all except her youngest brother, out on their own we turned a room into a dedicated tea/meditation/study/guqin practice space. The realization of the space is always evolving but it is easily the room our family spends the most waking time within. The closet is for tea storage and for teaware and also has more books on a small bookshelf. I do have a small laptop in the space for research and to play music. The seating for the laptop and the tea table is on the floor (This also minimize furniture). We change the tea settings at the table relatively often or if we are using the space to pour tea with a friend.

There is a Bonavita kettle alongside the main tea pourer's zabuton and a small woven box for containing tea tools and for storing tea snacks to bring out for a tea guest at the appropriate time. Underneath the table I keep 3 different tea trays and a tea tasting set, which is out in these photos because a friend had recently come to sit for tea.

For us, we prefer the space to have as "empty" and clean an aesthetic as possible and prefer a chan/zen/kong type of space in line with the aesthetics we are accustomed to from Taiwanese Chayi/茶藝。We find that the simplicity of the space and its objects lends a comfortable depth and settling to our encounters in the tea room. We did as well lay out the whole space in line with principles of Feng Shui. As such, the space acts somewhat like a Mandala with its various sections serving to remind us of the differing energies in our life.

The instrument on the wall is my guqin/古琴。The calligraphy on the wall is a poem and was given to me from my father-in-law's collection and serves to remind us of the spirit of the room. It reads:

茶 (cha2)

詩好笛客吟 (shi1 hao3 di2 ke4 yin2)茶香情更濃 (cha2 xiang1 qing2 geng4 nong2)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

We do also have a tea deck in the backyard that changes with the seasons for pouring tea with friends. It currently has a small, natural stone tea table but we have other small tea tables that we switch to from time to time:

Really lovely space! We'd like to place tatami in the room as well. It's not cheap though. I'm currently also working in the shop on building a new tea table from aged/distressed redwood. We'd like to repaint the room and place a curtain at the entrance to the tea closet (removing the doors). The space is constantly evolving.

I agree. It seems as if your tea room could also quite easily double as a zendo.

Best wishes,sherubtse

sherubtse, ...indeed.

That yard is simply beautiful. I could sit out there and never have a care in the world.

Shawn

Shawn, after spending much of my life in the foothills and mountains of the Sierra Nevada, it was hard for me to move into the valley. Creating a backyard space that was alive and natural has been key in stemming off my longing to return to the mountains. Indeed we do spend a lot of time just sitting in the backyard, listening to the leaves, sipping tea, or eating.

TeaArt08, wow! I am so jealous, I wish I had a place like those to drink tea! That's the sort of room I imagine myself having in the future for sharing tea with friends, or drinking alone in contemplation!